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Paris St Germain Ends Partnership with SportFive

Hi everyone,Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has announced that it will seek to market its rapidly developing brand in-house after reaching an agreement to end its partnership with Sportfive.The Ligue 1 club announced that its partnership with the agency will end immediately. “Paris Saint-Germain’s new strategy sees the club take direct charge of the development of revenue and internalise the commercialisation of its own marketing of rights and hospitality,” the club said in a statement.

“PSG would like to thank Sportfive for their successful partnership over a number of years, including the recent signing of several new sponsors. Given the expertise and the quality of the services provided by Sportfive, PSG and Sportive envisage working together in the future in non-exclusive collaborations.”

The new strategy reflects the latest move by the club’s new owners in a year of great change. Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) in March acquired the remaining 30% stake in PSG in a deal that valued the club at €100 million. QSI had originally acquired a 70% stake from US investment firm Colony Capital in June 2011.

The organisation’s president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, serves in the same capacity for Al Jazeera, which has invested heavily in French football media rights over the past year. Al-Khelaifi has previously stated his ambition of transforming PSG into one of the biggest teams in the world. He said that the vision for the club centres on attracting the finest players on the planet and turning PSG into a profitable enterprise.

Following the bitter disappointment of losing out on the 2011-12 Ligue 1 title to Montpellier on the final day of last season, QSI has signalled its intention to make an even stronger challenge at home and in Europe by embarking on a spending spree this summer.

PSG has spent a reported US$137 million alone this summer on the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marco Verratti. The club’s commercial portfolio currently includes the likes of Nike, Emirates, QNB, Orange, Citroen, PMU, Go Sport and Indesit. [Source: I Sport Connect]